Register

Login

Vet Times logo
+
  • View all news
  • Vets news
  • Vet Nursing news
  • Business news
  • + More
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Crossword
  • View all clinical
  • Small animal
  • Livestock
  • Equine
  • Exotics
  • All Jobs
  • Your ideal job
  • Post a job
  • Career Advice
  • Students
About
Contact Us
For Advertisers
NewsClinicalJobs
Vet Times logo

Vets

All Vets newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Business

All Business newsHuman resourcesBig 6SustainabilityFinanceDigitalPractice profilesPractice developments

+ More

VideosPodcastsDigital EditionCrossword

The latest veterinary news, delivered straight to your inbox.

Choose which topics you want to hear about and how often.

Vet Times logo 2

About

The team

Advertise with us

Recruitment

Contact us

Vet Times logo 2

Vets

All Vets news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Business

All Business news

Human resources

Big 6

Sustainability

Finance

Digital

Practice profiles

Practice developments

Clinical

All Clinical content

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotics

Jobs

All Jobs content

All Jobs

Your ideal job

Post a job

Career Advice

Students

More

All More content

Videos

Podcasts

Digital Edition

Crossword


Terms and conditions

Complaints policy

Cookie policy

Privacy policy

fb-iconinsta-iconlinkedin-icontwitter-iconyoutube-icon

© Veterinary Business Development Ltd 2025

IPSO_regulated

9 Oct 2023

Portsmouth vet wins bid to return to register

An RCVS panel concluded Simon Wood had done “everything required” of him to secure restoration five years after he was struck off having admitted offences related to indecent images of children.

author_img

Allister Webb

Job Title



Portsmouth vet wins bid to return to register

Image © sezer66 / Fotolia

A Portsmouth-based vet is to be restored to the register five years after he was struck off following a conviction for making indecent images of children.

An RCVS disciplinary panel said it was satisfied Simon Peter Wood had “done everything required of him” to show he was fit to return to practice, three years after an initial restoration bid failed.

A report published following the two-day hearing last month also described him as “thoughtful and realistic about his prospects going forward”.

Indecent images

Mr Wood was originally removed from the register in June 2018, five months after he was given a three-year community sentence and made the subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by Portsmouth Crown Court.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images, some of which were believed to have featured children as young as three or four.

However, the report stressed there was no suggestion that Mr Wood had been involved in the original production of the images concerned, as the act of downloading an image, believing it was likely to be indecent, is deemed to be enough to commit the offence.

‘Profound remorse’

An initial application for restoration was rejected in 2020, even though the community order had been revoked following early completion of the required elements, because other orders including the SHPO remained active until January of this year.

The college’s own legal representative said the body was “neutral” about the latest application.

But Mr Wood’s barrister, Abbas Lakha KC, said his client had consistently demonstrated “profound remorse”, was deemed unlikely to reoffend and remained professionally competent to return to practice.

The panel was told he had completed around 200 hours of CPD during 2022 and 2023, while reports compiled by a counsellor and psychotherapist who continues to work with Mr Wood on a regular basis argued that his offending “was driven by a mental health issue rather than a moral issue”.

Porn addiction

When questioned by the committee, Mr Wood said he accepted the diagnosis that he had been addicted to pornographic material.

However, he said he did not believe he was addicted now and the measures he had taken, together with his wider support networks, would help to prevent any recurrence.

Following the hearing, panel chairperson Kathryn Peaty said: “The committee is satisfied that Mr Wood has done everything required of him in order to be able to satisfy the committee that he is fit to be restored to the register.

“He is thoughtful and realistic about his prospects going forward. His responses to questions about addiction were appropriate and persuasive.

“He has expressed genuine remorse and there is, in the committee’s view, a public interest in allowing him to be restored to the register.”